Betting exchange
A betting exchange, such as Betfair, is a peer-to-peer betting website in which you bet against other punters rather than against a bookmaker. The exchange takes a percentage of all winnings, typically 5 per cent.

Fractional odds
Favoured by bookmakers in the United Kingdom and Ireland, fractional odds quote the net total that will be paid out to the bettor – should he win – relative to his stake. Odds of 4/1 (‘four-to-one’) imply that the bettor stands to make a £400 profit on a £100 stake. If the odds are 1/4 (‘one-to-four’ or ‘four-to-one on’), the bettor will make £25 on a £100 stake.

Decimal odds
Decimal odds differ from the odds traditionally quoted in the UK in that they include your stake as part of your total return. If you place a bet of £10 at decimal odds of 4.0 and win, then your total return (including stake) is £40. In fractional odds this would be quoted as 3/1, returning to you winnings of £30 plus your original stake of £10. Decimal odds are favoured by betting exchanges.

Back
A “back” bet is the simplest type of bet there is: backing a team to win. Bookmakers offer odds on each team, telling you how much you win if that team wins. You then make a stake and if your selection wins you get your stake back and your winnings, which are based on multiplying the odds and your stake.

Lay
A “lay” bet is a bet that something won’t win. So if you lay a team and they lose, you win. The way returns on lay bets are calculated is basically the mirror image of the back bet. If you lay at 3/1, your odds will be 1/3. If you lay at 1/5, your odds are 5/1.

Spread betting
In spread betting, the pay-off is based on the accuracy of the wager, rather than a simple “win or lose” outcome. A spread is a range of outcomes, and the bet is whether the outcome will be above or below the spread. For example, you could bet on the number of corners awarded in any given match. Unlike fixed odds betting, once you’ve placed a spread bet you have the option to stop the bet when you want. So if your bet’s going well and you’re in for a decent profit, you can take the money and run. For more info on spread betting, read Chris Shillington’s beginner’s guide.

Asian handicap
An Asian handicap market maker gives the team he perceives to be the less likely winner of any given match a head start, commonly termed as the ‘handicap’. This handicap is expressed in goals or fractions of goals. In every match there are two options for punters - back the team with the handicap start, or the team conceding it.

Bookings points
Points awarded to teams depending on the number of bookings and red cards they receive in a game. Bettors can bet on how high or low this figure will be.

Double chance
Double chance betting means backing a win and a draw for a particular team. Covering two outcomes increases your chance of winning but also reduces the odds.

Draw no bet
This is like a full time result bet except that there is no option for the draw. You can bet on either team to win and if it’s a draw you get your stake back. The downside is that the odds on each team winning are reduced.

First Goal-scorer (Each Way)
Bookmakers offer you the chance to win if your player scores the second or third goal in the match. Half your stake will go on the first goal-scorer outright bet and half on the player being the first, second or third scorer.

First Goal-scorer (Insurebet)
You place your bet on the first goal-scorer in the usual way, and if your player does not score first but does score at any time in the match, you get your stake back.

Handicap result
The result of a game once the handicap assigned to one of the teams has been taken into account.

Match specials
‘Match specials’ encompass a variety of different in-match events that you can bet on, such as a team scoring a penalty or a particular player scoring a hat-trick.

Over/under
Typically this is a two-option bet on whether there will be more or less than the number of goals quoted. Normally the bet is more or less than 2.5 goals, but you will often see variations such as 0.5,1.5,3.5 and 4.5.

Total goal minutes
Betting on the total aggregate time of all goals scored in the game. Goals scored in the 44th and 82nd minute would add up to 126 total goal minutes.